Over the weekend, this two-minute video went viral, gaining around
90,000 views from users of the social network. In my opinion, this clip is the
most unusual and unexpected reaction of Russians to the events in Ukraine.

The film consists
of video fragments showing protests and street clashes in Ukraine. The voiceover
in the background reads a text about fear and the choices that people have to
make. This text is full of quotations from famous blockbusters "After Earth" with Will Smith and "Rocky" with Sylvester Stallone. Any news, informational details, and political messages are absent.

At the end
of this video, I was surprised at my reaction. First of all, because it
produces an incredibly strong impression – primarily due to the excellent
narration. Secondly, the movie is not like any other political movie or news
footage about the Maidan and Ukraine. It raises fundamentally different issues.

What
surprised me in the first place was that the video is not about politics. Of
course, we see documentary shots of street protests in Kiev. But the narration
has nothing to do with politics. This text could be applied to any major social
protest, whether in Ukraine or in any other place on the globe.

Politics
moves into the background. For the author of the video, the protests in Kiev
are no longer about politics; they are about society making a choice without any
policies or guidelines. Therefore, this video is about something that is beyond
the politics, it is about human values​​.

The video
raises existential questions: What is fear? What is a fact? What is a choice?
Are we able to forget about fear in order to make what we want happen?

Of course,
these questions are just as naïve as they are complex. But every Russian who
sees what is happening in Kiev is trying to respond to them. For Russians, Ukraine
still remains a country where similar people speak a similar language. Russians
do care what happens to Ukraine. The events taking place in Kiev reflect many
concerns of Russian society, too.

This video
reminds us how hard it is to be in a situation of social choice, as difficult
decisions must be made under the influence of fear, and how difficult it is to
achieve big goals. And of course, this video says that all the people who take
to the streets deserve a change for the better.

And we cannot but sympathize with them.

Off topic

Here are some lines from the voiceover, used in "Fear":

"In reality, Fear does not exist. Fear lives in one corner of our mind in our thoughts of the future. Fear is a fruit of our imagination. It makes us afraid of things that are not real and will, most likely, never be real. It’s pure madness. Please, do not misunderstand me, danger is realbut fear is your choice.” ("After Earth")

After Earth. Source: YouTube

"It ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth…" ("Rocky")

Rocky Balboa. Source: YouTube

The opinion of the writer may not necessarily reflect the position of RBTH or its staff.